


Between Always And Never

by anephemeralmind



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017) RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 23:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15254838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anephemeralmind/pseuds/anephemeralmind
Summary: The biggest regret of Armie's life was losing touch with Timmy after their summer together at camp. So imagine his surprise when Timmy's sister interviews for the position of his secretary.Based on a true story.





	Between Always And Never

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned in the summary, this fic is based on a true story. Namely the fact that my coworker recently found out that when they were teenagers, our boss had dated his sister, despite them coming from complete opposite ends of the country, because they had met at summer camp. And in true fangirl style, I went "I should fic that." And now here we are.

Armie had never wanted to be the CEO of his father’s company, when he was younger he had actually dreamed of becoming an actor, but he’d never dared to take that final step and drop out of college to chase his dreams. So here he was, 30 years old, taking over as the CEO because his dad had a stroke out of nowhere and passed away at the hospital two weeks earlier.

He hadn’t even known his father had wanted him to be the CEO, considering the amount of time he’d spent yelling at him and telling him he wasn’t good enough. So when his will had been read, and he’d stated that he’d like Armie to run the company? Well, no one was more surprised than him.

Obviously he’d had a pretty good role in the company already – nepotism did have it’s perks after all – but he’d never been in charge of anything, let alone _everything_. His secretary let him know, as soon as the news of his promotion was out, that she didn’t want to continue in her position, and he was sad to see her go, because she had been fantastic at her job. But he understood that being the secretary of a regular employee, and being the CEO’s secretary, was two completely different jobs.

His dad’s secretary had absolutely refused to continue working for him, apparently it was too painful, she’d said. But Armie knew the only reason she’d stayed in her job before was because she’d been sleeping with his dad, and he’d basically been her sugar daddy. How he knew that? You don’t really want to know. But it involved being 15 minutes early to a meeting and seeing far more of his father than he ever wanted to.

He’d gotten promoted for that. His dad clearly hoping to buy his silence. Not that his silence needed buying, because all Armie wanted was to forget that moment ever fucking happened. But the promotion was nice, meant he got a bigger office with a better view of the city, so he’d taken it. He didn’t really feel bad about it either, since his dad had just created a new title for him out of nowhere, and he hadn’t actually taken someone’s job away from them.

Armie decides to put an ad out for the position of his secretary, instead of hiring in-house, figuring that a little fresh blood couldn’t hurt anyone. He gets a lot of fucking stupid applications, mainly from men in their early 20’s who seem to think getting an interview for this position will make Armie realize they’re amazing at everything, and that he’d hire them for another position on the spot instead. There are also quite a few overqualified snobs, who scoffed at the idea of ever getting Armie coffee or doing lunch runs, again only really applying for the job as a stepping stone for a different one. Luckily there are also a few nice, qualified, and genuine applicants.

 

When he’s looking through resumes, one name jumps out at him, Pauline Chalamet. He hasn’t heard that last name in _years,_ and while he has no real way of knowing if she’s related to his Chalamet, he’d guess there aren’t that many of them in America. She turns out to be the best qualified person in his pile of people he’d decided to call in for interviews, so he contacts her first, scheduling in an interview around lunch that Friday.

Her resume was basically flawless, she’d already worked as a secretary to a CEO in a fortune 500 company, which meant she knew what was to be expected of the position, and how unpredictable the hours could end up getting. Armie did, most of the time, try his very best to let his secretaries leave after a normal work day, but sometimes overtime couldn’t be helped. There was also the matter of business trips, mostly he went on those by himself, but sometimes he had been forced to bring his secretary along, and not everyone had the chance to just up and leave the city for days, maybe even weeks at a time. He rather selfishly hoped Pauline didn’t have any kids that depended on her, because based purely on her resume and references, she was pretty much everything he was looking for.

In Armie’s opinion, Pauline nails her interview, every single question he has for her, she answers perfectly, and she has prepared some really good questions for him in return, which makes him smile. He offers her the job right away, he doesn’t even bother interviewing anyone else, because he knows no one else will measure up.

He wants to ask her if she is related, somehow, to Timmy, but he doesn’t quite know how to do that without sounding like that’s the only reason he hired her. So he decides to wait, give her time to get fully settled into her job before he brings him up. He really does hope that the answer is yes, because despite not having seen, or heard from, Timmy in nearly 12 years, Armie never forgot him.

_  
Summer 2006_

  
It was going to be Armie’s last summer at Camp Moon Rock, which actually depressed him a little, he’d been coming here every summer since he was 7 years old, and he didn’t really know what he would do next year when he didn’t have this to look forward to. Since he turned 18 this year, and was headed off for college in the fall, he’d probably have to get a job. Technically, the camp was his job this year, since he was a counselor now, but it didn’t feel like a job, it just felt like he got paid to go to camp.

He’s put in charge of cabin number 11, and he smiles when he sees that the four guys he’s in charge of are all in their mid teens. Not that he doesn’t like children, he does, but he can’t deny that teenagers are easier to control, mainly because he was them, just last year, so he knows exactly where they’re going to try to sneak off to. Mainly the caves by the beach, to smoke weed, get drunk and hook up.

He knows all the guys in his cabin except one, Armie thinks he introduced himself as Timmy, he was a little too busy staring at his mouth to listen to what he actually said, because damn, he was one gorgeous guy. Not that it mattered, since he was a camper and Armie was a counselor. Technically there were no rules forbidding fraternization, but it was still frowned upon. Unlike the others, it’s Timmy’s first year at camp, and Armie vows to make sure he’s being included in everything and that he settles in nicely.

Despite Armie doing everything he can to make sure Timmy is included in group exercises and other activities, the person Timmy spends the most time with, is actually Armie himself. They get on like a house on fire, their sense of humor matching perfectly, and they also find out they share a lot of other interests too.

Timmy usually spends his summers in France with his family, Armie learns one day. But this summer, his parents were redecorating the entire summer house; tearing down walls, building new ones, changing the floor plan, setting in new windows, laying new flooring, essentially changing absolutely everything. Meaning there was no room for Timmy to stay, and they’d agreed he’d go to camp instead. Something Armie is incredibly happy about.

Armie can’t deny that he falls more and more for Timmy every day that passes, but he doesn’t plan on ever doing anything about it. Not just because he’s a counselor and Timmy a camper, but also because he can’t be 100% sure Timmy is even interested, and he doesn’t want to be responsible for ruining Timmy’s summer. Let alone wrecking one of the greatest friendships he’s ever made at camp in all the years he’s been attending.

Armie finds out that Timmy wants to be an actor as well, and he tries his very best to encourage him to go for it. Armie is going to take some drama classes in college, but he doubts he’s ever going to get the chance to actually act for a living, unless he defies his father’s wishes completely. Some days that is very tempting though, so who knows what the future has in store for him. But Timmy? Timmy should definitely go for it, Armie would watch all his movies, he tells him, and he’d go to everyone one of his shows if he decided to go the theater route. Timmy just laughs, but Armie means every word.

When about two weeks have passed, on the night of the annual bonfire party, Timmy kisses him, and Armie freezes. Not because he doesn’t want to be kissed, because _fuck_ does he want to be kissed, but he wasn’t expecting it. So when Timmy’s lips touch his, Armie basically turn to stone, staring wide eyed down at Timmy when he pulls back. And then Timmy turns and runs away, forcing Armie to run after him.

Despite the length of his legs, he doesn’t catch up with Timmy until they’re back at the cabin. When he turns around to face Armie, there are tears streaming down Timmy’s cheeks, and his face is red with mortification and embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry, Armie, please don’t hate me.” He sobbed, and Armie’s heart broke a little.

“I could never hate you, Timmy.” Armie whispers, and he gently cups Timmy’s cheeks with both hands, using his thumbs to wipe away Timmy’s tears before leaning down and kissing him softly.

Despite how much they both wanted to, they never manage to have sex at camp, something always got in the way, be it other campers or just the general lack of lube and condoms. Armie had definitely not packed expecting to get laid, and neither had Timmy.

They do, however, spend an awful lot of time kissing, and even though they think they’re being sneaky, at the end of camp they’re given the “cutest couple” award, making them both blush.

Saying goodbye to Timmy when camp ends, was one of the hardest things Armie had ever had to do. He knows that when he gets back home, all he has time for is to pack up the last of his stuff, and then he’s on a plane headed for California and college. He also knows, that his parents would never approve of Timmy, simply because he was a guy. They still think Armie is going to find a nice girl to settle down with, have a couple of kids, and maybe even a dog.

The last time Armie kissed Timmy was a Sunday, and it was raining, almost as if the universe was as sad as they were.

“Promise you won’t forget me?” Timmy whispers as Armie wraps his arms around him in one last hug.

“I promise, I couldn’t even if I tried.” Armie smiles, kissing Timmy’s cheek. “Besides, I have your email address, so don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily.”

They’d emailed back and forth for a few months, Armie had even asked for Timmy’s home address to send him a small gift he’d found when he was out at the mall with some friends, but eventually their communication petered out. It wasn’t that Armie didn’t try his fucking hardest to stay in touch, because he did, it was just… Life got in the way, and time moved way too fucking fast to keep up with, and the next time Armie tried to send Timmy an email, the address was no longer valid. And of course he’d accidentally deleted the email with his home address in it, so he couldn’t even send him a letter.

He’s not going to lie, he had cried, more than a little, when that email wouldn’t go through. He also cursed his own stupidity, for never asking Timmy for his phone number. That should have been the first thing he’d asked, but instead he’d gone and settled for an email address. Fucking stupid ass choice.

He even tried looking Timmy up in the yellow pages, but he finds absolutely nothing, there's not a single Chalamet listed in the entirety of the United States. He even tried to google the French version of the yellow pages, but he can’t find them in that either.

Eventually, Armie accepted that he would probably never see Timmy again. But he’d kept his promise, he never forgot Timmy, not for a single second.

_  
Present day_

  
When Pauline has been hired for about a month, Armie overhears her on the phone, talking to her mother, and his ears perk up when he hears her mention Timmy’s name. So she did know him! Armie’s stomach suddenly fills up with butterflies, and he has to bite his bottom lip in order not to break out into the widest, most deranged, smile ever.

Now all he needed to do, was find a way to ask her about him, without seeming like he was digging for information, or that he’d hired her purely to get in her brother’s pants.

That proves to be easier said than done, it takes about three more weeks before the subject of family comes up naturally in a conversation. They’re working overtime, and eating Chinese take out in Armie’s office when Pauline mentions that she’s got a younger brother, Armie jumps at the chance to ask about him.

“He wouldn’t happen to be named Timothée, would he?” Armie asks, despite technically already knowing the answer, and he can see Pauline frown at him, probably because he pronounced Timmy’s name the French way – the _correct_ way, he remembers Timmy saying with a laugh.

“I… Yes? Yes, he is. Do you know him?” Pauline squints at him in consideration, tilting her head.

“I used to, yeah. We went to the same summer camp one year.” Armie smiles softly and Pauline’s eyes widen.

“Wait… You’re _that_ Armie?! Oh my god!”

“He mentioned me?” Armie perks up and Pauline starts laughing hysterically.

“You could say that.”

Armie feels warmth spread through his body, Timmy had mentioned him to his family, enough that Pauline still remembered years later. That had to be a good thing, right?

“Did he – I mean, what’s he doing these days?” Armie really hopes Timmy had gone for the acting thing, he’d tried keeping an eye out for him, but in the last few years Armie had worked way too much and the only free time he had was spent sleeping.

“He’s good, yeah, he’s actually an actor now.” Pauline smiles, pride obvious on her face, and Armie feels his own smile grow wider. “He’s currently doing a play on Broadway, actually.”

“Yeah? That’s – I’m so happy to hear that.” In a strange way, it’s like for the first time in literal years, Armie can breathe a little easier. Timmy had done it, he’d made his dreams come true, he was _happy_.

Unfortunately, they don’t have a chance to talk any further about Timmy that night, because Armie gets a phone call from one of their clients, and all hell breaks loose. It takes him _days_ to clean up the mess and make sure everyone is happy.

 

Now that Armie knew Timmy still lived in New York, and he was currently on Broadway, it made finding him a whole hell of a lot easier. Sure, he could’ve just asked Pauline, but he wanted to surprise him, so he calls a friend who has a friend who gets Armie a ticket to Timmy’s show that night.

Sitting in the crowd waiting for the play to start, Armie’s palms start to sweat, he honestly cannot believe, that after 12 whole years, he’s going to finally lay eyes on Timmy again. And when he sees him up on stage, his breath catches in his throat, and all he can think is ‘ _holy shit, he grew up well_.’ Armie’s memories definitely didn’t do him justice. Timmy had always been beautiful, there’s no doubt about that, but he’d grown more into his features, and there’s no other word to describe him, except, _stunning._

Watching Timmy perform on stage, Armie has never been prouder of anyone in his life. He is absolutely amazing at what he does, and if Armie hadn’t known better, he’d never known Timmy was actually acting, he’d believe 100% that the character he portrays was who he is in real life.

Armie’s connection had gotten him backstage privileges, but when the play ends, Armie goes home. He didn’t want the first time he met Timmy again to be in front of a bunch of strangers, especially if Timmy didn’t recognize him. Sure, they were both grown ups now, and Armie is positive he could manage to keep the small talk going for a good long while, but, he’d rather wait a little longer, and do it right. After all, what is a few more weeks compared to 12 whole years. He second guesses himself the entire way home, but when it comes down to it, he knows he made the right decision.

He also, rather selfishly, didn’t want to be taken by surprise if Timmy turned out to be married or something, Armie couldn’t take meeting him again only to have that bomb dropped into his lap. Not that he had any claims on him or anything, but, it still would have sucked to not know about it in advance. But when he googles him on his phone later that night when he can’t sleep, it turns out he worried for nothing, according to Timmy’s fansites – the fact that he even had those made Armie smile – Timmy was still very much single.

 

A few days later, while he’s busy taking care of some paperwork – that was one of the biggest drawbacks of being in charge, so much fucking paperwork – Pauline knocks on his office door and enters with a wide grin on her face.

“I was just wondering, do you want to join me for family dinner this Saturday?” Armie only raises an eyebrow in response, Pauline was lovely and all, but, she was definitely not the Chalamet sibling he was interested in dating.

“Not as my date, you creep.” Pauline rolls her eyes with a laugh. “I just thought it would be a good way for you to see Timmy again! And, well, it’s his birthday, and I’ve been having trouble finding a good gift, but, hah! Here you are. So, please? Do me a favor?”

Armie had never known when Timmy’s birthday was, but he knew he was two years younger than him, meaning he’s turning 28. Since Pauline seems to take it for granted that Timmy would be happy to see him, and presumably remember him, and he doesn’t have anything better to do on Saturday anyway, he accepts her invitation with a smile. Laughing a little when she actually pumps her fist as if she’d just won something.

 

Pauline had told him to dress nicely, but not _too_ nicely. Meaning, a shirt and slacks, yes, a 1000 dollar suit, no. Armie picks her up at her apartment, and they drive over to her parents place together.

When Armie pulls up into their driveway, Pauline turns to look at him, and grins. “Normally, I’d just walk straight in, because, you know, I used to live here, and they’re my parents, so duh. But! Since you’re here, I made a deal with my mom, that we’re going to ring the doorbell, and she’ll send Timmy to open the door. Now, I didn’t tell her who I was bringing, just because she fucking sucks at keeping secrets, but I did tell her you were someone important. So. Are you ready?”

Armie tries his best to suppress a smile when he hears the plan, it almost feels to good to be true to be talked about as someone important to Timmy, when they hadn’t seen each other since they were teenagers.

“I’m ready, yeah.” He says with a smile, nodding his head once, and gets out of the car. He’d originally intended to walk around and help Pauline out, like a true gentleman, but Pauline clearly didn’t give a shit about etiquette, and got out of the car by herself, which made Armie smile even wider. It was strangely refreshing, not having to constantly be on his toes in regards to stupidly uptight social ‘rules’, thanks to his parents, he’d almost forgotten what that was like.

Pauline rings the doorbell, and grins over at Armie when they hear footsteps coming closer and closer on the other side of the door. When Timmy opens the door, his eyes first land on Pauline, and he frowns.

“What’d you ring the doorbe-” He cuts himself off when he notices Armie, and his eyes nearly bug out of his head when he sees him. Timmy just stands there, in complete silence, blinking furiously up at Armie. He still doesn’t say anything when his eyes start traveling down his body, giving him an obvious once over, before his eyes come to rest on his face again, making Armie smile and Timmy’s cheek darkens a little with a blush.

Armie knows that if he hadn’t gone to see Timmy’s play, he probably would have had a similar reaction, because truly, Timmy is the most beautiful person Armie thinks he’s ever seen in his life. He might be a little biased, that’s true, but really, there is no denying that Timmy is absolutely gorgeous. Armie’s heart actually clenches at how fucking beautiful he is, it’s almost so he can’t actually believe he’s real.

“You… Armie?! What… I don’t – _W_ _hat?_ ”

“Surprise!” Pauline says, grinning from ear to ear. “I got you a fucking baller birthday present, you owe me big time for this, I’m just saying.”

“No one says baller anymore” Timmy frowns.

“Well I do, so deal with it.”

Pauline pushes past Timmy, and walks inside, not bothering to wait for either of them.

“You’re actually here.” Timmy whispers, still looking a little wide eyed, and Armie just nods. He grunts a little in surprise when Timmy flings himself at him, wrapping his arms around Armie in a tight hug. “You’re here.” He whispers again, and Armie wraps his own arms around Timmy in return, holding him close.

“I’m here.” Armie whispers, kissing the top of Timmy’s head, simply because that was the closest thing he could reach.

When Timmy pulls back, his eyes look a little glassy with unshed tears. “I can’t… You – _Armie_.”

“I know.” Armie says, reaching out and wiping away the tear that runs down Timmy’s cheek. “I’ve missed you, so much, Timmy. I don’t even know what to say right now.”

“I’ve missed you too, you don’t even know, I think I cried for like, a week, or two, when I accidentally deleted my email address and I realized we’d never actually exchanged phone numbers, because we were morons.”

Timmy hugs him again, and Armie can’t help but think how perfectly they fit together, even after all these years.

“Oh god.” Timmy groans, taking a step back and looking up at Armie. “Pauline is going to be unbearable from now on, I’m going to have to get her the best fucking present in the universe to make this up to her.” Armie can’t help but laugh at the way Timmy shakes his head in exasperation.

“How did she even _find_ you?!”

“Well, she actually didn’t. Not really. I hired her as my secretary about two months ago.”

“You what? She’s known who you are, for months, and she didn’t tell me? I am going to -” Armie cuts Timmy off by raising his hand and lightly shaking his head.

“No, she only found out about that on Wednesday.” He says with a smile, smiling wider when he sees the tension release from Timmy’s shoulders.

“Oh. Well. Good. Because if she’d kept you from me for two whole fucking months, I would have been _pissed_.”

Timmy takes Armie’s hand in his, and they walk together into the living room. Pauline is sitting on the couch, next to who Armie presumes is her and Timmy’s mother, sipping on a glass of red wine. When she sees they’re holding hands, she raises her eyebrow and grins.

“Mom, dad, this is Armie.” Timmy says with a smile, lightly squeezing Armie’s hand. Armie has to bite his tongue not to laugh at the wide eyed surprise on their faces.

“Your Armie?” Timmy’s dad asks, and being called Timmy’s Armie probably shouldn’t make him as happy as it does, but fuck it, he’s absolutely living for it. To be completely honest, there’s nothing he’d rather be.

“Yes, my Armie.” Timmy smiles softly up at Armie, and all Armie wants to do, is kiss him. He doesn’t though, he’d rather wait until they’ve had a chance to properly talk.

“Oh my god?” Timmy’s mom actually covers her mouth with her hand in surprise before getting up from the couch and wrapping her arms around Armie in a hug, much like Timmy had done earlier.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She says when she pulls back, and Armie is touched to notice her wiping away a quick tear.

“Likewise.” He whispers, and she hugs him again.

 

Dinner is absolutely fantastic, not only is the food amazing, but the conversation is great too. They talk about Armie and Pauline’s work, as well as Timmy’s current broadway show coming to an end and what he’s planning on doing next.

“I’m actually going to film a movie.” Timmy says with a shy smile. “It’s called The Year Of The Stars. Greta Gerwig is going to direct it.”

“I know Greta.” Armie smiles “She’s good people.”

Armie had met her for the first time at school, and she’d tried her very best to talk him into following his dreams of becoming an actor, but Armie had just shaken his head at her every time she brought it up, and eventually she’d given up. They still kept in touch to this day, and he made a mental note to call her later to talk about Timmy.

When they finish eating, Timmy’s parents and Pauline leave Armie and Timmy alone in the living room, going upstairs to watch TV instead. They sit down on the couch, facing each other, and Armie takes Timmy’s hand in his own, entangling their fingers, loving the pleased smile that spreads across Timmy’s face.

“I still can’t believe you’re here.” Timmy whispers, looking over at Armie like he could disappear at any moment, something Armie could definitely relate to. Armie had dreamed about this moment for years, but now that it was actually happening, it almost didn’t seem real. He was usually never this lucky.

“Me either, to be honest.” Armie said quietly, gently squeezing Timmy’s hand.

“I thought about you, almost every day. Losing contact with you was honestly one of my biggest regrets, and, uh, the driving force behind me actually making a go at acting”

“Yeah?” Armie smiled, at least something good had come out the situation.

“Yeah.” Timmy nods. “The way I figured, I already had one huge regret in my life, so I didn’t really need another one, and if it didn’t work out, well, at least I’d tried, you know?” Timmy says, scratching the side of his nose.

“Yeah, I wish I could say the same. But I didn’t even try.” Armie says with a shrug. “I just, I did everything my parents wanted me to. Except marry a girl and give them grandkids, that one I managed to avoid. But only barely.” He laughs humorlessly.

“I’m sorry, Armie.” Timmy says sadly, lifting their entwined hands and softly kisses the back of Armie’s hand.

“Don’t be.” Armie smiles. “Brought me to you in the end, didn’t it? Who knows how much longer it could have taken us to meet if I’d gone into acting instead. I might have still been living in L.A.”

“True.” Timmy grins. “But maybe we would’ve done a movie together.”

Armie shakes his head with a laugh, but he can’t help but picture it, him and Timmy starring in a romance movie, but instead of both of them trying to get with the same girl, _they’re_ the main couple. It would have been a beautiful movie, Armie is sure of it, almost too bad it was never going to get made.

 

“Is it too soon to say that I'm still in love with you?” Timmy quietly asked him a little while later, when they’re cuddling on the couch – still busy catching each other up on what’s been happening in their lives the past 12 years – and Armie's heart swells with happiness. 

“If it is, I don’t care, because I'm still in love with you, too. Actually, I can’t believe we’ve been in the same city for so many years already, and we never met until now.”

“Until you hired my sister.” Timmy chuckles, and Armie laughs as well.

“Yeah, how about that.” It’s almost a bit crazy to think that none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for the fact that his father passed away and Armie was in need of a new secretary, never mind the fact that Pauline was looking for a job just as he happened to put an ad out.

“Fate works in mysterious ways.” Armie whispers, and Timmy turns around to look at him.

“I guess she does.”

With that, Timmy leans forward and kisses him, and for the first time since he was a teenager, Armie truly feels happy.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think in the comments :D
> 
> And yes, a new chapter of Where Do I Sign? will be up on Saturday, I promise.


End file.
